Main menu

Monthly Archives: May 2015

The jury is currently being picked for Wayne Burgarello’s murder trial. Mr. Burgarello, 74, is being tried for the shooting death of two people who had trespassed in a vacant property owned by Mr. Burgarello. Nevada law allows individuals to use deadly force with firearms in their homes when they are subjected to a legitimate threat. The bill also cautions homeowners against shooting first and not being aggressors. Even though Mr. Burgarello believed he was in danger, police and district attorneys handled the case as one of capital murder. A conviction on a capital murder charge could lead to a Reno wrongful death suit.

The home invasion linked shootings happened just before valentine’s day last year on February 14th, 2014. Neighbors alerted Mr. Burgarello that people were in his vacant duplex. Then, Mr Burgarello went to the duplex with two loaded handguns to investigate. Upon entering, Mr. Burgarello saw another man in the unit, Cody Devine, 34. Mr. Burgarello shot Mr. Devine when he thought he saw a gun or other weapon in Mr. Devine’s hand. A police investigation revealed that Mr. Devine was not carrying any weapon of any kind and that he had been shot many times. Another person in the vacant duplex at the time, Janai Wilson, 29, was also shot repeatedly by Mr. Burgarello. Ms. Wilson, however, survived the attack and is expected to testify against Mr. Burgarello in his trial.

A number of bills in the Nevada assembly were introduced that were intended to strengthen the laws associated with the castle doctrine in Nevada. The castle doctrine is a legal concept purported by guns rights activists. The doctrine, in its purest form, enables homeowners to use nearly any means necessary to deal with trespassers. It enables those involved in such incidents to use justifiable homicide defenses in their court cases. The doctrine also provides some immunity against Nevada wrongful death lawsuits. The bills that were introduced to increase castle doctrine protections in 2015 and SB 175, SB 171 and AB 139. AB 139 was considered to be an omnibus gun rights bill which also worked to include other gun rights for silver staters.
NV-attorney is branch in Northern Nevada for the family-owned personal injury law firm, Benson and Bingham. Founded by cousins Benjamin Bingham and Joseph Benson, our firm has significant experience with wrongful death in Clark County, Las Vegas pedestrian accidents and even casino accidents that occur outside of the state of Nevada when those companies have their corporate headquarters in the Silver State.

New road construction in Reno, Nevada, sponsored, in part, by the Nevada Department of Transportation is being completed in the hope of reducing Reno automobile accidents. One of the first projects is a pedestrian crossing signal at an intersection on North Virginia that has seen more than its share of Reno pedestrian accidents. The installation of the signal will cost just over $216,000 and will enable those wishing to cross North Virginia by the Boomtown Casino to stop passing automobiles and enable pedestrians to cross safely. In addition a 100+’ concrete barrier is being added to the street to assist drivers heading south to make safer right turns. To accommodate the new barrier, a bus stop is also in the process of being moved. The completion of the project will require some traffic delays including reducing the lanes on the road from two to one in each direction during the day. however, construction is not forecast to take long, as it is scheduled to be completed by the first week of June.

Another road construction project to reduce vehicular accidents in Northern Nevada is a road improvement and paving project on the Mount Rose Highway. One of the major objectives of the construction is to increase drainage along the highway. While this has been a series of significantly dry years in Northern Nevada, the better drainage will reduce puddles on the highly traveled roadway, thus reducing hydroplaning and other vehicle mishaps that happen in wet weather. Near residential areas, the project will also add rumble strips that will increase pedestrian safety. In addition, more guardrails are being installed. The entire project is set to cost approximately $10 million and will be completed sometime in Fall 2015.

Another project in the works is a $12.1 million effort to fix concrete that is degrading. The stretch of highway, formerly named 395 and now titled I-580 will fix a stretch of highway between Moana Ln. and Glendale Ave. As part of the project some southbound and northbound lanes on the highway are also being resurfaced. An additional part of the project will add earthquake protection to the highway’s bridges. The final aspect of the project is to make intersections near the highway more wheelchair accessible.
NV-Attorney is the Northern Nevada arm of the Southern Nevada based personal injury law firm Benson and Bingham. While we primarily practice in the Las Vegas area, we are also able to represent you in a Northern Nevada car accident, Washoe County wrongful death or even a casino slip and fall accident in Reno.

A new traffic light is being installed on North Virginia in Reno to curb the rash of Northern Nevada pedestrian accidents that plagued that strip of road in 2014. Representatives from the State of Nevada Transportation Department released a statement saying construction is set to begin on the new pedestrian safety traffic light in the northern part of Reno, commonly known as The Biggest Little City. Construction begins on the new traffic signal on the 11th of May, a Monday. Currently at the intersection, there is a flashing signal warning motorists of pedestrians. The new traffic light instead will enable those who wish to cross the street to press a button that will enable a traffic light that will stop cars and trucks for people to cross the street safely. Additional improvements are planned including the installation of a new concrete barrier along the roadside to make turns safer. An additional improvement includes a bus station being moved to the north to allow for the installation of the barrier. The new road construction will costs Nevada taxpayers over $215,000 but will reduce deaths of people crossing Northern Virginia.

The State of Nevada has budgeted nearly $10 million for road construction in the name of pedestrian safety. The budgeted money is for those improvements in Washoe or Clark county – two counties that have seen their continued urbanization result in pedestrian deaths in Northern Nevada or Southern Nevada. For an example, already 20 people have already died in 2015 in Clark County and Washoe County pedestrian pedestrian accidents. The twenty deaths are the same as last years toll by this part of the year. Yearly totals since 2009 have jumped from approximately 35 pedestrian deaths a year to 68 pedestrian deaths a year.

The last Reno pedestrian accident that happened in front of the casino was just before Christmas last year. At the time, a 54-year old man was killed trying to cross the street. The Reno resident’s name was Vincent Yowell. the accident which happened at approximately 4:30 in the morning on December 22, happened when Mr. Yowell was hit by two cars heading up the four lane road. At first, neither of the cars that had hit and killed Mr. Yowell stopped at the accident, but days later, after seeing stories about the death in local news outlets, a 53-year old Reno man approached police and informed them he was driving in the area at the time of the accident and thought he had struck a large animal.